Awkward Apology
by joxdanny
Summary: Post 1x09. Lacey feels guilty for ending things with Archie so suddenly and decides that it's time to apologize.


Lacey took a deep breath as she walked over to Archie. This was something that he deserved. An apology. Even if he didn't accept it she still felt like it was something necessary at this point. In reflection she felt like the way she had broken up with him was completely unfair. Not that she really regretted it. She just felt guilty.

He was sitting in the school's lounge with the rest of the soccer team. She looked over the group and started to wonder if she should apologize. What if Archie did poison one of his friends just to make Danny look bad? It wasn't a farfetched idea…

Hah. Who was she kidding? Danny had lied to her so many times already. There was nothing stopping him from lying about that either. She needed to apologize. There was nothing changing her mind now. She stepped in the lounge and lightly smiled to the people who looked over at her. She didn't want to make a scene about it. She had already done that at the diner. She wanted more privacy with this. He deserved that.

She walked over to him with a small smile. Shocked, was the best adjective to describe his reaction. "Hey," Lacey tried to keep her voice a bit more optimistic sounding. She didn't want to come off intimidating. But thinking more on it the thought of _coming off intimidating_ to a group of large, strong soccer players was hilarious to her.

Archie raised a brow and looked at her with a small, confused grin. "Hey." He lightly shook his head and tried to play it off cool.

Lacey looked at the rest of the team that was obviously staring at her at this point. She let out a small sigh. So much for being discrete. "Let's go for a walk, okay?" She asked optimistically while point to the door. She smiled just a bit more to make her dimple show. She knew that he had a soft spot for that, and she _really_ didn't want to be denied in front of the entire team.

"Yeah. Of course." He nodded, still completely confused, but a little too optimistic as he stood up from his chair. "I'll see you guys a practice." Archie looked over to his team before he departed.

It was silent at first as they started walking out the school doors. Archie's hands were in his pockets, and Lacey's arms were crossed over her chest to keep warm as the cool autumn air wisped over her. Archie noticed. He considered giving her his letterman to keep warm, but he didn't want to come off to strong. He was still walking on thin ice, and he wasn't even entirely sure why she wanted to leave him in the first place. For all he knew, she probably wanted to yell at him some more.

"So," He started keeping his eyes down at the sidewalk as they continued. He wasn't really sure what else he should say. It was obvious that Lacey was gathering her thoughts as they walked out, and he had hoped that he had given her enough time.

"So how did you guys to at the tournament?" Lacey asked quickly. She needed more time to think things over. Maybe she should have done that before hand. She was never one to be impulsive, but she could feel herself making more impulsive decisions than she had ever made before.

"Um, pretty good. Won a couple, lost a couple." Archie shrugged. He didn't really want to talk about soccer, and she knew that.

"Look." Lacey stopped walking and looked at him. She shook her head and looked off for a moment before moving her eyes back to him. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for how I went about things. It wasn't right for me to do that in the diner with everyone around. I really should have waited until everyone had left." She blurted out everything so fast she wasn't even entirely sure if she had actually said it. She felt guilty about it, and especially after everything that Danny had done.

Archie raised his brows surprised by the apology. He gave a small shrug, and a miniscule smile tugged his lips. "Don't worry about it. It's fine." He took a breath and looked away from her for a moment. "Can i…" He paused not sure if he should ask this. "Can I just know why though?" He looked back at her casually.

Lacey took a deep breath and nodded. She couldn't tell him all of the reason why. He would probably go off and kill Danny. "After everything that's happened in this last month… with Reg…" She paused and looked at the sleeves of her shirt for a moment. "It just doesn't feel right since she's been gone. I think I just need time." She explained forcing a small smile on her face to convey that she was okay.

Archie nodded. Sometimes he forgot about how hard the entire situation must be for her. He raised his hand and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Everything's going to get easier, Lace." He said softly.

Lacey shook her head, but didn't pull away from the touch. "I'm fine." She forced a bigger smile on her face. "I really am." She added more definitely.

"Right." He nodded and pulled his hand away. There was another small gap of silence that fell between them before Archie spoke again. "You know, you're a really strong person." Archie smiled to her and gave her a small playful nudge. "I really mean that."

Lacey gave a more genuine smile and looked over to him. Not many people really said anything about her strength, and it really made her question whether she was or not. It was unbelievably nice to hear. "Thank you."

Archie smiled back at her and shifted on his feet a little before he spoke up again. "So, we're cool right?"

Lacey let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yeah. We're cool." She confirmed before nodding back to the school. "Come on." She continued. "I should let you get back to your team. I'm sure they aren't happy with be stealing you away even when we aren't together." She teased as she turned around and started to walk back.

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